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Sunday, May 11, 2009 - Mother's Day

Paxton Farm CDI***/CDIY/CDIJ

A Special Noseband Gets Michael Barisone and Neruda Back in Action

Michael Barisone and the 13-year-old Dutch Warmblood gelding Neruda have been out of CDI competition for several months. Hence, Barisone admits the two are a bit rusty. Still, he was thrilled with his finishes in Grand Prix competition at the Paxton Farm CDI and attributes any mistakes to himself.

“I would not say it was my sharpest performance,” Barisone said of Friday’s ride. “Rocher and Neruda tied for first, but I did have about four mistakes.” There were far fewer of those mistakes in Saturday’s CDI Grand Prix Freestyle and Barisone and Neruda broke the 70 mark earning a score of 71.90. Ahead of him in first place was Danish rider Lars Petersen with Succes with a score of 74.05. It was a great comeback for Petersen and Succes, whose Friday Grand Prix ride wasn’t one of their best and landed them in fifth place.

“Lars and I both had a better day,” Barisone said Saturday evening. “But he just had a better day than I did. Neruda’s passage and piaffe always carry him through but I missed the two tempis – that’s not news. That’s like my ‘m-o’ with him. It’s a monkey on my back, but one day I’ll get rid of it. Generally, in the Grand Prix, if I can score around six or seven on the changes, I can get around a 73.

In the kur, I could get a 75 or 76 if I got a six or seven on the changes, but it’s often a four or five. I routinely have like a nine on the passage and piaffe, but then I get a four or five on the changes and they even each other out. In the warm-up I can get big, beautiful changes, but I can’t find that in the ring.”

Barisone said he clearly needs to work on his tempi changes and believes part of the problem is that he worries and rides them too conservatively in the show ring. “I need to “throw caution to the wind and ride him like I’m going to get a nine and what the heck, if I fail to get a nine, it’s no different than going for a six and failing and getting a five, like I’ve been doing. He’s a really, really exceptionally great horse. We just have to iron out some things.”

The pair’s absence from the show ring the past few months resulted from a recurring infection on the outside of Neruda’s jaw. “It’s like a staff infection but it’s on the outside, not inside. And when it happens, we can only ride him in a snaffle with a drop noseband,” Barisone said. “It popped up in Vegas last year. They took the scar tissue out and it went away. And then it came back at the Derby in a vengeance – a big swollen thing with puss that was hot and painful. The vets looked at it and x-rayed it. At first they said it was a bone infection and we were like, ‘oh no.’ That’s serious. It was right where the noseband goes at the bottom of the jaw.”

What causes the problem, no one knows, but Barisone said it’s similar to a pressure point sore. It was Dr Byron Reid, a veterinarian in the Wellington, Florida area who noticed that Neruda’s jaw isn’t even and was causing the problem, Barisone said. “He looked at the jaw and said the jawbone is different on the left and right. One side is wider and sits differently. And with Neruda, the unevenness of the jaw caused the noseband to create a pressure point in that one spot.”

When that pressure point turned into a red, hot sore, Barisone could only ride Neruda in a snaffle with a dropped noseband. Dr. Reid suggested that someone who makes orthotic and prosthetics devices might be able to fit Neruda with a special noseband. Hence, Neruda’s owner, Jane Suwalsky, went hunting through the phone book and found Beth Blontz. “She came and shaved off Neruda’s face and put a plaster material on his face to make a mold. The following week she came back with this thing that makes a perfectly fit noseband that released the pressure on the pressure spot,” Barisone said. “It works like a million bucks. It’s the coolest thing. Beth is great. She gave me back my ride without any stress or problems for the horse.”

Now that Neruda is comfortable and ready to go, Barisone said all that’s needed is for the pair to get through this “rusty phase.” In reality, Barisone said he’s a bit more rusty than Neruda. “He’s always sharp and on and it seems that the judges want to give him a 70 percent or better in the Grand Prix, but unfortunately, I have a habit of making mistakes and taking a 71 down to a 67 or 68. But the good news is Neruda is capable of that. I just have to go in there and ride it right. Sometimes you just have to ride that line and say, ‘I’m not going to make any mistakes.’”